Monte Carlo method

Monte Carlo method, statistical method of understanding complex physical or mathematical systems by using randomly generated numbers as input into those systems to generate a range of solutions. The likelihood of a particular solution can be found by dividing the number of times that solution was generated by the total number of trials. By using larger and larger numbers of trials, the likelihood of the solutions can be determined more and more accurately. The Monte Carlo method is used in a wide range of subjects, including mathematics, physics, biology, engineering, and finance, and in problems in which determining an analytic solution would be too time-consuming.

French scientist Georges Buffon’s method (1777) for calculating pi from dropping needles on a surface with parallel lines on it is considered an early example of the Monte Carlo method. In 1946, while recovering from an illness, American scientist Stanislaw Ulam wondered what was the probability of winning a game of solitaire and realized that simply playing a number of games and noting the percentage of winning games would be much simpler than trying to calculate all the possible combinations of cards. He then further realized that such an approach could be applied to problems such as the production and diffusion of neutrons in radioactive material, a problem in which at each step there were so many possibilities that a solution was impossible to calculate. Ulam and American mathematician John von Neumann worked out the method in greater detail. Because the method is based on random chance, it was named after the famous Monacocasino.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen, Senior Editor.